Buddha Abhidhamma - Ultimate Science - BuddhaNet

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of them in the mind to be sure of their presence. When they
become distinct in the mind, one keeps on concentrating on them
and noting them to develop one’s samàdhi. The highest samàdhi
attainable here is neighbourhood concentration as the object of
meditation is too deep and vast.
According to the results discovered in Pa-auk Tawya
Meditation Center, catu-dhàtu-vavatthàna is a very effective
kammaññhàna for developing concentration very quickly. When
one attains neighbourhood-concentration, one can see through
the body to observe the flesh, the sinew, the bone, the heart, the
liver, etc., as one should see in kàyagatàsati -meditation.
Then one can use the skeleton which one penetratively sees
in one’s body or in the body of another person as the object of
asubha-kammaññhàna and meditate on it to raise the concentration
to the level of first jhàna.
Furthermore, the whiteness of the bone, preferably the skull,
can be used as the object of odàta-kasiõa. One meditates on it to
raise the concentration further to the level of fifth jhàna.
These step-wise methods of developing concentration are
described in Visuddhi Magga and they are successfully put into
practice in Pa-Auk Tawya Meditation Centres.
Four ârupas (Four immaterial Spheres)
The four immaterial spheres of unbounded space (àkàsa),
unbounded consciousness, nothingness, and neither-perception
nor non-perception are employed as the objects of meditation to
develop the four aråpàvacara-jhànas, respectively.
In practices one has to develop the five råpàvacara-jhànas
first on one of the kasiõas, and then, making the fifth-jhàna as the
base, one goes higher to the four àruppas to develop the four
aråpàvacara-jhànas.